Author here, for the sake of constructive criticism, would love to hear why you don't find it useful?
The disclaimer is there because, while I tried my best to make sure all info in the guide is accurate, I don't think it's fair or necessary for me to take on legal liability if someone makes (or claims to make) a mistake by using this (free) guide. I certainly hope readers do not interpret this guide as a definitive and comprehensive substitute for proper legal counsel and research of their own--rather, it contains information which is designed to act as a supplement to those things.
In other words, it will hopefully help folks avoid false negatives in legal steps (i.e. forgot to file an 83b within 30 days or register with their city's business department), expose them to lesser-known alternatives that their own lawyers may not have told them about (using FF preferred stock to provide a small measure of founder liquidity down the road without skewing 409A valuations), and understand why it's necessary to do certain things (like adopt bylaws, file a Form D, etc).
The scope of the guide is strongly biased towards U.S. startups incorporating as a Delaware corp (a common approach, even for companies not based in Delaware itself).
Why don't I find it useful? "Find legal counsel" and "Comply with State-Specific Regulations" are actual line items on your checklist. Your checklist can be reduced to one line item: hire someone who knows what they're doing.
It wouldn't bother me if you were simply sharing your experience in setting up a company, but this article is presented as advice wrapped in a thinly-veiled promotion of your product (and some lawyers/law firms).
Agreed with rpgmaker. My experience with the law (IANAL) is that it's sometimes just easier to pull up the books, read the relevant portions yourself, then confirm it with your lawyer for some quick answers. This is what I was doing before having a lawyer and it worked just fine, but having a validation source saved me many, many hours. Simply a hiring a lawyer and somewhat blindly trusting them sounds like poor advice in itself. That said, in an attempt at CYA, please please please just use a damn lawyer.
I said: "hire someone who knows what they're doing". I didn't say "blindly trust someone who holds themselves out as an expert and don't do any homework yourself". In fact, you said you hired an expert to validate your findings, which is exactly consistent with my advice.
That's very unfair. The author took the time to share his knowledge about legal issues surrounding startups and, as is customary when legal matters are discussed, he provided a disclaimer to avoid personal liability but that doesn't mean the article is inaccurate. You won't find anyone offering free legal services on a Medium post.
As I said, I have no problem with a post about "here's what happened to me and how I dealt with it". In this case, the OP is promoting a web-based spreadsheet tool and essentially advertising for a number of lawyers and firms.
The disclaimer is there because, while I tried my best to make sure all info in the guide is accurate, I don't think it's fair or necessary for me to take on legal liability if someone makes (or claims to make) a mistake by using this (free) guide. I certainly hope readers do not interpret this guide as a definitive and comprehensive substitute for proper legal counsel and research of their own--rather, it contains information which is designed to act as a supplement to those things.
In other words, it will hopefully help folks avoid false negatives in legal steps (i.e. forgot to file an 83b within 30 days or register with their city's business department), expose them to lesser-known alternatives that their own lawyers may not have told them about (using FF preferred stock to provide a small measure of founder liquidity down the road without skewing 409A valuations), and understand why it's necessary to do certain things (like adopt bylaws, file a Form D, etc).
The scope of the guide is strongly biased towards U.S. startups incorporating as a Delaware corp (a common approach, even for companies not based in Delaware itself).